


Victories and Other Disappointments

by etrix



Series: Destinies and Other Choices [3]
Category: Supernatural
Genre: Episode Related, Episode: s05e19 Hammer of the Gods, Episode: s05e22 Swan Song, Gen, Wordcount: 30.000-50.000
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2010-05-23
Updated: 2010-05-23
Packaged: 2017-11-13 05:52:15
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,507
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/500204
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/etrix/pseuds/etrix
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>5.22 coda. They helped get the boys here to preserve their own existences. Now they’ve got what they wanted it seems a little... lacking.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Victories and Other Disappointments

* * *

“Well, that was... something,” the voice was flat, toneless, as if its owner didn’t know what to think. Māui ruffled his wings, unsettled.  
   
“Huh,” echoed the handsome Asian youth. He was floating in the air, his feet easily balanced on spinning wheels of fire and wind. “So that it?”  
   
Nezha was high enough to look in the eye of the bird god perched in the branches of the tree. The Oceanic god was completely out of place in the desolate forest. For one, he was obviously a tropical bird, with colours bright and blindingly garish—not something often seen in the wilds of the Northern Hemisphere. For another, even though it was late spring, there were no leaves on the trees, not even one late bud. There were the dried remains of growth that had tried but had become warped and decayed even as it hung on the tree. It was as if the whole area was some otherworldly—nether-worldly—zone and life simply couldn’t exist here.  
   
“Yes, that’s it,” he replied. “Lucifer’s back in his cage. The world is saved.”  
   
“Michael’s in there too,” Anansi pointed out as if that fact was a special treat.  
   
“He deserves it,” said Coyote. He tucked his tail around his paws, firmly controlling its desire to twitch in irritation. He knew exactly how the other two felt: unfinished. And he didn’t like it.  
   
The spider hummed soothingly, “No arguments here. Lucifer offered a truce and the sanctimonious ass rejected it.”  
   
“Destiny’s a mugs game,” Coyote sneered.  
   
Saci was staring at the spot where the hole in the worlds had opened up as if looking for signs of the almost-event that has just happened. “But it _is_ finished, right? The Christian apocalypse has been averted?” When he received affirmations from his fellow Tricksters, he sighed. Not that he wanted to hear different it was just… “Does anyone else feel, I dunno,” he shrugged, “let down?”  
   
He looked over the Native American god as his reddish-gold fur rippled in a canine version of a shrug. Murmurs of agreement came from the others. Somehow, they’d expected more. Though more of _what_ they couldn’t say.  
   
Anansi was dangling on a strand of spider silk, motionless, motionless because no wind stirred in this strange, almost dead place. Already he could hear distant birds. They’d be returning to the cemetery soon no longer pushed away by the presence of the angels. He sighed because soon he’d have to change forms or risk being eaten and he hated changing forms. He was looking out for hungry ravens—the non-god kind because the other was also possible in this part of the continent—so he was the first to notice the new arrival. “Incoming,” he said in warning but he was already too late.  
   
“You lying _dicks!_ ”  
   
“Hey Gabe,” Loki said from his place leaning against the tree trunk. “Welcome back.”  
   
The former archangel was furious. If it had been any darker in the cemetery, Loki was sure they’d’ve seen sparks flashing from his eyes. “You fucking _lied_ to me,” he stormed. He came to a halt a mere finger-width from the Norse god  
   
Loki grinned down at him. “We didn’t lie,” he said, “we just tricked you.”  
   
“It’s what we do, after all,” Saci added.  
   
“ _You_ said I’d survive,” Gabriel spat. It didn’t seem to matter to him that Loki towered over him and that the Norse god’s shoulders were wider than his arm was long.  
   
“You _did_ survive,” Anansi pointed out. “You’re here, aren’t you?”  
   
Fiery hazel eyes glared at the spider. “And that makes it okay?” he demanded, “My brothers are _dead_ because I listened to you.”  
   
“They’re not dead,” Māui interrupted.  
   
“I can’t feel them anymore,” the former angel spat venomously, “so, if they’re not dead, where are they?”  
   
Nezha vanished his discs of flame and air and landed lightly beside the pissed former angel. “The rings worked—”  
   
“After a fashion,” Coyote muttered, tail twitching despite himself.  
   
“Heart stopping,” Māui agreed.  
   
Nezha ignored them. “—and Lucifer is back in his realm. The vessel—”  
   
“Sam Winchester,” Anansi interrupted. He liked his stories to be accurate, at least when told by other people.  
   
Nezha ignored him too. “—managed to control his body long enough to fall into the void. Michael—”  
   
“Adam Milligan,” Anansi said.  
   
“The illegitimate half-brother” Loki explained.  
   
“He was dead,” Saci added, “but that creep Zachariah resurrected him.”  
   
Nezha didn’t bother rolling his eyes; he just talked louder. “When Michael tried to hold Lucifer to this world, the vessel grabbed him and dragged them all into the void.”  
   
Gabriel was staring at the young god in wide-eyed grief and horror. “They’re both down there?”  
   
“Yes,” Māui confirmed, “but they are alive, as promised.”  
   
“Although the way Michael was going on about how his destiny was to kill Lucifer, who knows how long that’ll last.” Saci sneered. He’d grabbed stones from the ground and was tossing them from hand to hand. It wasn’t quite juggling yet but it was still mesmerizing.  
   
Gabriel dragged his eyes away and asked his question of Loki, “What does that mean?”  
   
“Lucifer tried to find a compromise, but Michael rejected it saying that killing Lucifer was what he was destined to do,” Loki explained quickly. He didn’t need to elaborate because he could see the understanding in the new god’s eyes. There was a pain Loki recognized from some of his own family. Even now, with them so diminished, they still couldn’t always resist killing each other. Often for no reason they could understand once the heat of argument was over.  
   
Māui’s voice pulled him out of his sad thoughts. “Considering everything they say about your baby brother, offering to find a peaceful solution was the last thing I expected.”  
   
“He wouldn’t want to hurt Michael,” Gabriel said sadly, “Not really.”  
   
“But he would have, and he was quite willing to destroy all humans on the planet in the fight. That, at least, has been averted,” Anansi pointed out. He’d dropped to sit on the lowest branch. “Actually, having them fight in Hell makes a great deal of sense. We should have thought of it a long time ago, back when we noticed the forces from both your Heaven and your Hell mucking about in some of the human bloodlines.”  
   
“That was _centuries_ ago, and it wasn’t _that_ often,” Saci moaned, “We’re only Trickster gods, not omniscient, all powerful über-Gods.” The others ignored him because they’d discussed this to death already.  
   
“What happened to Dean?” Gabriel had to ask. Part of him actually liked the hunter, admired him as one joker to another. “I mean, he did toss the rings down, right?”  
   
“Lucifer nearly killed him, but Sam took control back and stopped him.” Coyote said. “He wouldn’t let the Morning Star kill his brother so, at the end, he drove off in his car to start a new life.” Saci had told the others about the promise Sam had extracted from Dean. Bets had already been laid as to how long _that_ would last.  
   
“That won’t make Dean happy,” Gabriel said, knowing it was true. He’d managed to have them at each others’ throats once but he’d known, even then, that it would take more mojo than he had to break the siblings apart. “Wait,” he paused going over what the gods had just said, “ _Sam_ stopped him? Stopped Lucifer?”  
   
“Yes,” Loki confirmed, a little confused at the former angel’s surprise. Where else would Sam have been?  
   
“He said ‘yes’?” Gabriel repeated.  
   
“It was the only way they could think of to get Lucifer to jump in,” Anansi explained. “It’s not like your brother would’ve volunteered.”  
   
“And the Winchesters would’ve had a hard time pushing him,” Loki added.  
   
“Except for the moment back in the old hotel,” Coyote argued, “When Lucifer first took over the body.”  
   
Māui shook his head, “Lucifer was in complete control even then. He wouldn’t have allowed himself to be caught off guard.”  
   
“There’s always a moment of disorientation,” the Native god argued.  
   
It sounded like the start of a familiar argument and Gabriel had no interest in hearing it right now. He held up a hand imperiously, “So Sam sacrificed himself to save the world?”  
   
The other gods looked at each other, exchanging secret Trickster code vibes or something, before Loki turned back to him and shrugged. “Pretty much,” he said.  
   
That... was surprising.  
   
Gabriel turned away, unwilling to let the others see the emotions that were running through him right now. He felt odd, off-kilter, like he hardly knew himself anymore. He knew he should’ve been more upset about where his brothers were—stuck in Hell, at each others’ throats for eternity—and he was. Kinda. Mostly it just made him sad that they couldn’t, weren’t willing to, work things out but it didn’t surprise him. Angels only knew one way to think. Or maybe they could only think of one thing at a time. He was impressed that Lucifer had offered Michael an out, and unsurprised that the oldest angel hadn’t taken him up on it. But what really upset him, what really made him ache, was the idea that Sam was stuck down there with them, endlessly fighting their battle, all while hurting his _own_ brother, because Lucifer and Michael didn’t know how to think for themselves.  
   
Damn it, he _liked_ Sam.  
   
Dean was his favourite—that wicked enjoyment of mankind’s idiocies—but he’d grown kind of fond of the younger brother during their time together in Broward County. That thing he did in the morning with Dean at the diner? Priceless. He’d had a hard time keeping a straight face as the verse had gotten longer and longer and he’d always been kind of sorry that he’d never found out what the ruler was for... And he’d made a great Impala.  
   
Who would he torment now? Dean by himself wouldn’t be much fun.  
   
“Shit,” he muttered. He turned back to the other gods. “We have to get him out of there.”  
   
There was a moment of silence as the gods processed the comment. “Get whom out of where?” Anansi finally asked delicately.  
   
“Sam, out of Hell,” the former angel answered. He didn’t bother being delicate. This wasn’t a request.  
   
Saci’s stones stilled their restless movement. “We just spent a lot of time and energy to put Lucifer down there,” he protested, “You’re back two minutes and you’re suggesting that we let him out again?”  
   
“Not Lucifer,” Gabriel clarified, “Just Sam.”  
   
Nezha frowned at him, “They are the same.”  
   
“No, they’re not,” Gabriel shook his head, “not yet anyway. If we act quick enough we can push Lucifer out and Sam will be okay, probably. But at least he won’t be stuck down there fighting a battle that isn’t his.” The other gods just stared at him as if he’d grown another head. He huffed out a sigh. “It just... doesn’t seem right somehow; that Dean and Sam have been separated like this, after everything they’ve been through.” There were vague shrugs from the other Tricksters. Uncomfortable movements that proved that maybe they felt the same way, except they didn’t really want to care... they were alive, they were safe, why should they put their necks out for a human they didn’t even know?  
   
And Gabriel didn’t know what to say to convince them which, considering his former job as his father’s mouthpiece, was kind of ironic. “It’s not fair,” he practically wailed and then blushed at having said such a stupid thing. He waited to be called on it.  
   
He didn’t have to wait long, Loki was laughing almost before he shut his mouth. “ _Fair_? When is life ever fair?” True, Gabriel acknowledged.  
   
“Gods don’t deal in fairness,” Nezha said. Also true, he thought, but also kind of not.  
   
“We do, in a sort of a way,” Gabriel said. “We target the self-righteous, the arrogant, the holier-than-thou—”  
   
“Your brothers definitely qualify on all counts,” Coyote muttered. Saci snorted in agreement. He was back to shuffling his glowing stones.  
   
Gabriel latched on to what the Native god had said. “Yeah, they do. And they worked real hard to develop their perfect vessels, messed with the Winchester’s and the Campbell’s bloodlines from way back in order to get just the right mix.” He looked at the group assembled, “Does it seem right to you that they get to keep them. Isn’t that kind of rewarding them for being assholes?”  
   
Nezha was shaking his head, “We can’t let Lucifer out.”  
   
“We don’t have to,” Gabriel assured him. “It’s not like they need actual bodies down there anyway.”  
   
“He’s right,” Saci said. “Hell’s a place of the spirit.”  
   
“I like the idea of not allowing them to keep the bodies,” Coyote mused, “After all, it’s not like they _earned_ them.”  
   
“They just assumed they should be given them, as if it were their right,” Māui joined in the bitch-fest, “as if the humans should feel honoured to give up their bodies.”  
   
“Definitely need a lesson in humility,” Coyote licked his lips.  
   
“There’s one problem with your suggestion, Gabriel,” Anansi stated repressively, “We can’t get into the Christian Hell to get the Winchester boys out. We are not Christian; we have no access to it and we’d have no power there.”  
   
“Well, actually...” The Norse god tried to shrug nonchalantly but it was hard to be casual when you were nearly seven-feet tall. Gabriel had never envied Sam Winchester his height but right now he realized there were some advantages to being average. “My daughter goes there all the time to snag souls she finds interesting and she doesn’t get diminished at all.” All eyes turned to him. “They sort of share the same starting place so she sneaks over when she gets bored. Her Halls are kind of empty these days.”  
   
Coyote chuckled, “I see some traits breed true.”  
   
Loki smiled in response. He was rather proud of his stubborn, overly-serious daughter. The Christians had stolen most of her domain when they moved north so, to make up for it, she now steals souls from one of their realms... there was a type of poetic justice about it that appealed to the Trickster.  
   
Nezha had straightened to attention and now he broke into the conversation, “We can get in. How do we find them? Once found, how do we separate the mortal bodies from the angelic parasites? Will we have to fight?” he asked while twirling his spear. Suddenly, it was very obvious that Nezha had been raised the son of a general.  
   
“Hel can lead us through,” Loki offered, “She knows how to evade most of the guards and the rest of Hell’s denizens know to leave her alone. There may be some fighting but there always is in Hell so it won’t raise any alarms.” Loki and Nezha share a feral grin.  
   
“And I can separate Michael and Lucifer from their bodies,” Gabriel said, “Rescue the boy’s souls if they’re still in their meat.”  
   
“Then we’re doing this?” Saci looked around in question. Nezha nodded confirmation. The teen god looked eager and slightly predatory, and Saci swallowed; he wasn’t a fighter. Of all of them he had the least battle experience and he’d never been anxious to acquire any. Oh well, he could always hide behind Loki if things went to shit. The Norse god was _huge_ ; his body equalled five of Saci’s with a bit more thrown in for luck. “Okay. I guess we’re doing this.” At least his voice hadn’t squeaked in fear, he thought and his hands moved faster until the glowing stones were a blur.  
   
Anansi laughed, a booming sound that had no business coming from a spider no matter how large. “What a story I’ll have to tell! ‘How the Trickster Gods Stormed Hell’.”  
   
“Yeah, okay,” Gabriel snarked, “maybe we can get Gaiman to write about it.” This wasn’t a _story_ , except maybe for that Chuck guy and he didn’t count since he was a prophet and had no control over what he wrote.  
   
“Excellent idea, youngster,” the spider said happily, either not hearing or not caring that it had been said sarcastically.  
   
“How long will it take? Do we need to bring special equipment?” The young Asian god ignored the by-play, after all they had a rescue to plan and it had been a long time since he’d been involved in a military campaign of any type and he would admit to looking forward to it. Playing tricks on idiots was fun but, in the end, nothing was better than bloodshed.  
   
“Uh, I don’t know how long it will take—months, maybe?” Loki answered, “And that’s not including how long it will take just to convince Hel to go along with it. She doesn’t always like me much.”  
   
“Months,” Gabriel said in disbelief, “It might take months to get Sam out of Hell.” He felt his heart dropping. For the first time since he’d realized that Lucifer had killed him, Gabriel had felt some hope that things would work out— _really_ work out—but, honestly, what would be left of Sam if it took them months to rescue him from Lucifer?  
   
“Better than eternity, bro,” Saci dismissed Gabriel’s complaint with a snort. Then he took another look at the former angel and his eyes narrowed in consideration. “Still, might as well get moving on this. Sooner started, soonest finished or some shit like that.” The boy disappeared from his seat under the tree. He reappeared a moment later, some distance away. “Well, wolf boy, what you waiting for? Lead the way.”  
   
Loki straightened his large frame. “You are freaking annoying, you know that?” Saci just grinned and gave his stones a final toss before letting them fall through his hands to the ground.  
   
Coyote was already loping over to the one-legged boy, Māui flying lazily above him. “You shit on me, bird, and I’ll pluck out all your feathers,” the canid warned.  
   
“Bitch, bitch, bitch,” Māui replied at the same time Saci said “Whine, whine, whine.” Gabriel swore the two gods smiled at each other even though one of them had a beak instead of a mouth and for the first time he wondered how long this group had been together, working against his brothers and trying to save the world, because the rapport they had didn’t happen in a month. They’d been working and he’d been hiding.  
   
Gabriel hardly felt when the spider, much smaller now, landed on his shoulder—Anansi never walked when he could ride. It took Loki putting his hand on the former angel’s shoulder to unlock his body. He didn’t notice Anansi jumping on his head to avoid being squished under Loki’s paw.  
   
“C’mon, Gabe,” Loki gave him a little shake, “Let’s go break your friend out of jail.” For once, the Norse god’s smile was gentle rather than cutting, understanding instead of disdainful, but it was what he’d said that had Gabriel standing with his mouth hanging down.  
   
Was that why it felt so wrong for Sam to be in the pit, because he’d become Gabriel’s friend?  
   
He remembered the Mystery Spot and the way the large Hunter had stabbed him, even though he’d looked like that old Hunter. Sam had been kind of pissed, of course, but those were hardly the actions of a friend. Still, it had ended well and he _had_ meant it to be a friendly lesson and a warning that destiny couldn’t be changed, except both the Winchesters had proved the angels wrong on that point in their own unique way. Then there’d been the whole TV Land thing. Sam had stabbed him then too, and Gabriel hadn’t even killed Dean that time.  
   
Still, this time Gabriel was rescuing him from Hell and eternal torment and life as an angel condom. It had to count for something, right?  
   
“Don’t worry,” Loki was still smiling but now with a hint of mockery. “I’ll protect you.”  
   
It was enough to jerk the newest Trickster out of his funk. “Puh-lease!” he scoffed, “Like I can’t handle one giant human currently inhabited by the Morning Star, Heaven’s General in some skinny almost teen, and all the combined forces of Hell...pffft!” He thought he sounded just like a Trickster should but, just in case, it was time to go.  
   
He walked towards the others, letting himself swagger a little. If he acted confident maybe he’d start to believe it was possible. They were going to get Sam—and the other one, Adam Whatshisface—and Gabriel knew it was the right thing to do. In fact, it had to be done— _had to be_ —Gabriel knew it in his bones. And this was the way to do it, surrounded by some of the most resilient of the pagan gods. If anyone could pull this off it would be them.  
   
He just hoped, when he finally met up with Sam again, that the Hunter wouldn’t have any sharp wooden stakes on him or else it could be a very painful reunion. 


End file.
